John S. Graves

John S. Graves of Petaluma died on Oct. 12, 2009 following a battle with cancer. He was 89.

Mr. Graves was a heavy equipment operator for most of his life, who had honed his craft under the most adverse of conditions — bombing and strafing runs during World War II.

He spent World War II in the Army Corps of Engineers building everything from landing strips to roadways in the Pacific theater.

He began to learn about operating heavy equipment in his native Vermont, a skill he fully developed when he enlisted in the Army prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

His first job was to help build the ALCAN Highway in Alaska at the outbreak of war with Japan.

He spent one winter in the Yukon Territory where it was 68 degrees below zero.

As the war progressed, he ended up in Australia building an airstrip for B-29s that would bomb nearby Morotai Island, occupied by Japanese forces.

American and Australian troops overtook part of the island in 1944 and the Army Corps built two airstrips that were key to the invasion of the Japanese-held Philippine islands.

Once American forces turned their sights to the Philippines, Mr. Graves was assigned to help build an airstrip near Luzon, the Philippines' largest island.

While stationed at night on a ship off shore, he recounted being strafed by enemy fighter planes while crew members were on deck waiting in chow lines. A kamikaze pilot's attempt to first bomb then crash into the ship also failed.

Mr Graves moved to Petaluma after the war, where he met his first wife, Shirley Chandler, who died in 1986.

He originally worked for Greyhound Bus Lines, driving between Petaluma and San Francisco. He later worked for a freight trucking company before taking a job as a heavy equipment operator with the California parks department, building roads throughout the state's expanding campground system.

In 1958, he became a Petaluma police officer, a job he held for 10 years.

He opened his own business in 1968, J.S. Graves Excavation, which built dozens of small dams and reservoirs in Marin and Sonoma county farming communities used to provide water for livestock.

During that time he also worked as a subcontractor on other projects, including the building of the state aqueduct system and the Oroville Dam.

Mr Graves also loved to fly. He owned a Cessna 140 in which he took friends for rides well into his 70s and also built an experimental bi-plane.

He was a member of the Operating Engineers Local Union Local 3A, the Civil Air Patrol, the California V-Drive Boat Assn. and the Petaluma Boat Club.

He is survived by his wife, Vaida Graves of Petaluma; his children, Sherry Harper of Tucson, Ariz., Bill Graves of Chico and Stephanie Chapman of Petaluma; a sister, Helen Dill of Beaufort, S.C.; a brother, George Graves of Barre, Vt.; seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Graveside services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 24 at Cypress Hill Memorial Park in Petaluma.

Contributions are preferred to Hospice of Petaluma or a favorite charity.